Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

By iHeartPodcasts

What's Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman about?

Neuroscientist and author David Eagleman discusses how our brain interprets the world and what that means for us. Through storytelling, research, interviews, and experiments, David Eagleman tackles wild questions that illuminate new facets of our lives and our realities.

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Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman episodes:

04.29.2024
Rebroadcast of Ep7 "Is AI truly intelligent? How would we know if it got there?"
David is taking his birthday week off and wanted to re-share this episode due to it's ongoing relevance. Modern AI is blowing everyone’s mind. But is it intelligent like humans, or is it just playing impressive statistical games? Could AI reach...
04.22.2024
Ep56 "Why do we care so much about touch?"
Why does a cold pool feel warmer the second time you dip your toes in? Why does a safecracker run his fingers over sandpaper? Why do Mediterranean cultures touch each other more than Scandinavian cultures? Would it be great -- or...
04.15.2024
Ep55 "Could a brain plugin instantly teach you to fly a helicopter?"
Could you instantaneously learn to fly a helicopter -- not by practicing, but instead by uploading instructions directly to your brain? What would society do if children no longer had to go to school? And what does any of this...
04.08.2024
Ep54 "Where do you end and others begin?"
From the brain’s point of view, what is the self? How do 30 trillion cells come to feel like a single entity? Does the "self" of a blind person include the tip of her walking stick? How flexible is our...
04.01.2024
Ep 53 " Can societies fight better? "
Presumably we're not going to solve the problem of conflict between groups of people -- but what would better conflict look like? And what does that have to do with brains, the spread of homo sapiens, social media recommender algorithms, tribalism, intellectual humility,...
03.25.2024
Ep 52 "What is lucid dreaming?" (Sleeping & Dreaming Part 3)
Can you become conscious inside a dream? Can a researcher convey information to a dreamer, and can the dreamer find some way to answer back? Does 10 seconds inside a dream equal 10 seconds in real life? Could taking a drug...
03.18.2024
Ep 51 "Why do brains dream?"
Why do brains dream, and why are dreams so bizarre? Why doesn't your clock work in your dreams? And even though you spend much of your working day looking at your cell phone and computer – why do they almost...
03.11.2024
Ep50 "Why do we spend 1/3 of our lives asleep?" (Sleeping & Dreaming Part 1)
Why do we spend 1/3 of our lives in the strange doppelganger state of sleep? Can we die from a lack of sleep? How long is it possible to keep yourself awake (and why does the Guinness Book of World...
03.04.2024
Ep49 "Can you read the brain to detect a lie?
Could you get convicted of a crime based on your brain activity? Are brain scan lie detectors accepted in court, or would that count as illegal search and seizure? And what does this have to do with your mouth getting dry,...
02.26.2024
Ep48 "Why do brains become depressed?"
What is depression? Why are brains able to slip into it? Is depression detectable in animals? Do animals have options beyond fight or flight? And what does any of this have to do with measuring depression medications in city water...
02.19.2024
Ep47 "Wheels rotate backwards on TV, but do they ever in real life?"
Do our visual systems see in frames like a movie camera or instead analyze the world continuously? Why do you see multiple hands when you clap under yellow street lamps? How did Hollywood launch from the question of whether all...
02.12.2024
Ep46 "Who says you're dead?"
Can a person be declared legally dead even though he is very much alive? In December of 2010, why did a number of families choose to pull their loved ones off life support just before the new year? How do...
02.05.2024
Ep45 "Why did a man shoot himself after hearing the lottery numbers?" (Time Traveling: Part 3)
Who is the most disappointed medalist at the Olympics? How do brains simulate what might have been? How can you get your kid to wear a jacket in the cold? What if you had to face more successful versions of yourself?...
01.29.2024
Ep44 "Why can't you tickle yourself?" (Time Traveling Part 2)
Why are people who can't remember their past also unable to picture their future? Why do we get so anxious about the world changing around us? What should you advise the president if we find ourselves at war with extraterrestrials? And...
01.22.2024
Ep43 "How do we remember?" (Time Traveling Part 1)
How do billions of neurons store your home address, your ability to ride a bike, and the history of your life? How does memory work in the brain, and how is it different from the way a computer stores information? And what does any...
01.15.2024
Ep42 "Is there any such thing as true news?" (Truth Part 3: Artificial Intelligence)
What role will AI play in the future of fake news and misinformation? What does this have to do with our brains’ internal models, with voice passwords, and with what Eagleman calls "the tall intelligence problem"? And why does he believe...
01.08.2024
Ep41 "Is there any such thing as true news?" (Truth Part 2: the Internet)
What is the future of misinformation on the internet? Is it possible that the invention of the internet has improved access to truth? What does any of this have to do with the Oxford English Dictionary, Soviet agriculture, liberation technology,...
01.01.2024
Ep40 "Is there any such thing as true news?" (Truth Part1)
We all worry about fake news. But is misinformation and disinformation really new? Join Eagleman for a deep dive into the past, present, and future of truth. Why do cameras not tell us what we think they do? What should...
12.18.2023
Ep39 "What is the future of AI relationships?"
Why are our brains so wired for love? Could you fall head over heels for a bot? Might your romantic partner be more satisfied with a 5% better version of you? How does an AI bot plug right into your...
12.11.2023
Ep38 "Why is it hard to teach an old brain new tricks?"
Is it always harder to teach an old dog new tricks? Why is an older person slower to learn a new language but able to learn new faces easily? Why does Arnold Schwartzenegger have an accent but Mila Kunis doesn’t, even though neither...
12.04.2023
Ep37 "What is Insanity?" Part 2
What does the insanity defense mean in a court of law? And is there such a thing as temporary insanity? Is the twinkie defense a real thing? Can someone use premenstrual syndrome as a defense? And what does the legal wrestling around...
11.30.2023
Inner Cosmos Inbox 2
Eagleman answers listeners questions.
11.27.2023
Ep36 "What is Insanity?" Part 1
What is the insanity defense? Are some people’s brains so different that it makes sense to use a different legal category? How does a legal system decide where the dividing line is? How are science and law strange bedfellows? Join...
11.20.2023
Ep35 "What sticks in your brain and what doesn’t? "
f you look at a brain, how can you immediately tell if it belongs to a piano player or a violinist? How can a dog learn how to walk on its rear legs? And what does this have to do...
11.13.2023
Ep34 "What is intelligence?"
What would it be like to have a much lower or higher IQ than you currently have -- for example, to be a squirrel or an advanced space alien? This week's episode is about intelligence. What is it and what...
11.06.2023
Ep33 "Why do they start sprinters with a bang instead of a flash?"
Why do they use a gun at the Olympics? And why can you get off the blocks after the bang but still be disqualified for jumping the gun? Few things are as bizarre as our time perception. From sprinters to...
10.30.2023
Ep32 "Is death reversible?"
Does life end inevitably or instead only because we don’t understand biology well enough yet? Today’s episode is about understanding what happens when your molecular cycles grind to a halt... and whether there's anything we can do to hit control-Z....
10.25.2023
Inner Cosmos Inbox 1
Eagleman answers listeners questions.
10.23.2023
Ep31 "Why do we see #TheDress differently?"
Why can you hear some sounds two different ways, depending on which word you’re looking at? Why do electrical outlets sometimes look like a face? How can you have rich visual experience with your eyes closed? Are some crosswalk buttons...
10.16.2023
Ep30 "What does it mean to know thyself in the age of neuroscience?" Part 2
Can we explain our rich experience of life only by studying the molecules that compose us? How is the color of your passport related to your chances of presenting with schizophrenia? Males are more predisposed to commit crime, so why don’t...
10.09.2023
Ep29 "What does it mean to know thyself?" Part 1
Did Joan of Arc turn the tide of the 100 Years War as the result of a brain disorder? Would you appreciate Taylor Swift if you only had an internal camera to watch her vocal chords? What do almost all...
10.02.2023
Ep28 "Does your language shape your thinking?"
Are there really dozens of words for snow in northern cultures? What did the movie Arrival have to do with language and cognition? Why are Russians better than Americans at distinguishing certain shades of blue? And what does any of...
09.25.2023
Ep27 "Can we read brains at an airport to know who's going to bomb a plane?"
Can your thoughts be read with neurotechnology? When is measuring the brain like reading the mind? How close or far are we from being able to know if you're thinking about some particular thing you did or intend to do?...
09.18.2023
Ep26 "Why do people dislike moist more than moose, but not as much as merts?"
We all know people who hate the word "moist". But why are they fine with synonyms such as "damp" or "wet"? What’s going on in their brains, and what does this have to do with synesthesia, autism, shapes, slacks, and...
09.11.2023
Ep25 "Why are we so easy to fool?"
Why are we humans so easily deceived? What are the tricks of the trade, and how can we train ourselves to be more aware of them? What does all this have to do with Theranos, forged letters, and the shell...
09.04.2023
Ep24 "What does drug withdrawal have in common with heartbreak?"
Why do you still feel the waves after getting off a boat? Why does the wall seem to come at you faster after you step off the treadmill? Why do the rocks seem to move upward after you stare at...
08.28.2023
Ep23 "How can we learn to speak alien?"
If we meet extraterrestrials someday, how will we figure out what they're saying? We currently face this problem right here at home: we have 2 million species of animals on our planet... and we have no Google Translate for any...
08.21.2023
Ep22 "What do we find beautiful?"
Why do briefly glimpsed people appear to be more attractive? Why did portrait photographers put Vaseline on their lenses, and what does that have to do with Instagram filters? Why are thirsty people more likely to perceive something as transparent?...
08.14.2023
Ep21 "How far would you follow authority?"
Would you torture someone if you were commanded by an authority figure? To what degree are your decisions contextual, and what does this have to do with matching the length of a line, the Iroquois Native Americans, the banality of...
08.07.2023
Ep20 "Why does your brain care more about some people than others?"
Why do we so naturally form ingroups and outgroups? And what does that have to do with evolution, monkeys, Greeks, psychopaths, Syndrome E, and propaganda posters? Join Eagleman to learn why our brains are so wired for tribalism, what the...
07.31.2023
Ep19 "How far can you trust your memory?"
How good is your memory, really? Why do we feel so certain about our memory, even while it is so suspect? Can something told to you after an event change your memory of the event? Why is it so hard to...
07.24.2023
Ep18 "Could you upload your brain to live forever?"
How would we know if we were living in a simulation? What if you were a butterfly having a dream it was a human? What does any of this have to do with John Lennon, or Renee Descartes, or freezing yourself in...
07.17.2023
Ep17 "What is consciousness?"
How do your billions of tiny brain cells build consciousness as they chatter away with electrical spikes and chemical signals? And why is your laptop, with its sophisticated algorithms and billions of parts, presumably not conscious? Could other large systems like...
07.10.2023
Ep16 "Why is everyone who disagrees with you misinformed?"
Why is there so much polarization, and what does this have to do with neuroscience? Why do people on all sides of the political spectrum feel that if they could shout loudly enough in all caps on Twitter, everyone would...
07.03.2023
Ep15 "What should happen when someone with a brain tumor breaks the law?"
When does neuroscience overlap with the legal system? Do we have free will or don't we? Did changes in Charles Whitman's brain have something to do with him becoming a mass shooter? Why was the heir to the Gucci fashion...
06.26.2023
Ep14 "Why do we have so little access to what’s happening under the hood?"
Who is doing the choosing when you make a choice? Is there someone in your head but it’s not you? What is a chicken-sexer, and what do they have to do with British plane spotters during WWII? Do we have...
06.19.2023
Ep13 "Will you perceive the event that kills you?"
How far in the past do you live? Why are live television shows not actually live? What does any of this have to do with nuclear bombs, car accidents, plane crashes, volcanos, or the last episode of the Sopranos? Join...
06.12.2023
Ep12 "Can we create new senses for humans?"
Can a blind person come to see through her tongue? What would it be like to smell with the nose of a dog? How can we perceive streams of information that are normally invisible to us? And what does any...
06.05.2023
Ep11 "What does dreaming have to do with the rotation of the planet?"
Why are some of the best musicians blind? Can blind people learn how to echolocate, like a bat? What do your nightly dreams have to do with the rotation of the planet? Once we find alien life on other planets,...
05.29.2023
Ep10 "Why is it so hard to spot a counterfeit bill?"
What do charlatans have to understand about human perception? Why are you so bad at recognizing a real penny among fakes? What did Eagleman have to do with the redesign of the Euro, and why did he campaign to the...

What's Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman episodes:

Rebroadcast of Ep7 "Is AI truly intelligent? How would we know if it got there?"

Ep56 "Why do we care so much about touch?"

Ep55 "Could a brain plugin instantly teach you to fly a helicopter?"

Ep54 "Where do you end and others begin?"

Ep 53 " Can societies fight better? "

Ep 52 "What is lucid dreaming?" (Sleeping & Dreaming Part 3)

Ep 51 "Why do brains dream?"

Ep50 "Why do we spend 1/3 of our lives asleep?" (Sleeping & Dreaming Part 1)

Ep49 "Can you read the brain to detect a lie?

Ep48 "Why do brains become depressed?"

Ep47 "Wheels rotate backwards on TV, but do they ever in real life?"

Ep46 "Who says you're dead?"

Ep45 "Why did a man shoot himself after hearing the lottery numbers?" (Time Traveling: Part 3)

Ep44 "Why can't you tickle yourself?" (Time Traveling Part 2)

Ep43 "How do we remember?" (Time Traveling Part 1)

Ep42 "Is there any such thing as true news?" (Truth Part 3: Artificial Intelligence)

Ep41 "Is there any such thing as true news?" (Truth Part 2: the Internet)

Ep40 "Is there any such thing as true news?" (Truth Part1)

Ep39 "What is the future of AI relationships?"

Ep38 "Why is it hard to teach an old brain new tricks?"

Ep37 "What is Insanity?" Part 2

Inner Cosmos Inbox 2

Ep36 "What is Insanity?" Part 1

Ep35 "What sticks in your brain and what doesn’t? "

Ep34 "What is intelligence?"

Ep33 "Why do they start sprinters with a bang instead of a flash?"

Ep32 "Is death reversible?"

Inner Cosmos Inbox 1

Ep31 "Why do we see #TheDress differently?"

Ep30 "What does it mean to know thyself in the age of neuroscience?" Part 2

Ep29 "What does it mean to know thyself?" Part 1

Ep28 "Does your language shape your thinking?"

Ep27 "Can we read brains at an airport to know who's going to bomb a plane?"

Ep26 "Why do people dislike moist more than moose, but not as much as merts?"

Ep25 "Why are we so easy to fool?"

Ep24 "What does drug withdrawal have in common with heartbreak?"

Ep23 "How can we learn to speak alien?"

Ep22 "What do we find beautiful?"

Ep21 "How far would you follow authority?"

Ep20 "Why does your brain care more about some people than others?"

Ep19 "How far can you trust your memory?"

Ep18 "Could you upload your brain to live forever?"

Ep17 "What is consciousness?"

Ep16 "Why is everyone who disagrees with you misinformed?"

Ep15 "What should happen when someone with a brain tumor breaks the law?"

Ep14 "Why do we have so little access to what’s happening under the hood?"

Ep13 "Will you perceive the event that kills you?"

Ep12 "Can we create new senses for humans?"

Ep11 "What does dreaming have to do with the rotation of the planet?"

Ep10 "Why is it so hard to spot a counterfeit bill?"